BRIAN ROBINSON - THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA How has the pandemic accelerated and respect for every person’s experience, and the time to embrace fully the challenge altered health communications? tells the world that people with migraines of rebuilding the patient pathway so that The most striking way the pandemic do show up: they, like you, just want to it fully integrates remote communication has affected health communications live their lives – the good, the bad, and technologies for diagnosis, prescribing, is how quickly and completely remote everything in between. and monitoring. It will require a lot of communications technologies were creativity to realise the potential of this adopted as emergency measures How do you envision telehealth new era. early on in quarantine. This was one experiences will develop and transform reason we designed and implemented into the future? Ultimately, the imperative for any digital a global study of health practices called It will take a long time to unpack and innovation in the health space must be in “Behind the Mask”; we realised that we assimilate all the lessons learned during service of people; about making people were witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime the pandemic relating to remote healthcare feel better, about improving the quality of transformational event, and we wanted delivery, but there are a few we can see care and quality of life. The industry must to make sure we captured it in real time. even now before the pandemic is over. embrace change or it will be relegated to a Ironically, a crisis like COVID-19 is often Short term, we have a recognition that transactional, manufacturing role. a catalyst that drives significant change; telehealth is more than “televisits”— in this case, we had latent technological remote communications technology In what creative ways has Havas ability for remote communications that is ready for prime time, but remote Health & You guided clients to elevate had “languished for years,” in the words prescribing, remote monitoring, and experiences during the pandemic? of one hospital executive, and along remote delivery of Rx* are nowhere near As the pandemic began, we immediately came a global crisis that created the as ready, and without them we have no recognised the challenges that would need for this technology to be deployed real “telehealth.” We have also learned be faced by our clients and built a rapid overnight and at scale. This has meant in that some conditions, and entire fields, response team to deploy strategies practice that the entire global healthcare are more suited for telecommunication and playbooks and align technological system has gained six-months than others. partnerships to support the transformation of experience in a new way of of in-person sales experiences working. Some of it has worked, DAWN OF Ato become remote-ready. As some if it hasn’t, but enough has the new “virtual-first” world that remote communications becomes an ongoing feature are unquestionably part of the of our lives, we’ve continued landscape going forward. to evolve novel approaches to help our clients reach their How do you think the role customers while leveraging of health communications NEW ERAthe opportunities created by must evolve to be competitive changes in today’s existing and provide a meaningful technology. experience for patients? Creative communication is Do you think leveraging communication that reflects an technology and innovation will understanding of how people improve the health experience see and feel their place in the world. for patients? Powerful communication is visceral, Telepsychiatry is very popular and is likely We’re at the dawn of a whole new era makes us feel, and connects us to each to continue; the surprises are things like of health. We’ve had the technology other. The giant gap, and opportunity, in neurology, because televisits turn out to languishing for years, but it took a health communications is shifting from the be effective for things like migraine, where pandemic like this to push adoption, and current approach of product differentiation the patient report is the main source of now that we have and we’ve seen it works, to that of brand distinction. information, but are much less effective the hard work begins. But imagine a world for things like tremor disorders, which where sick patients don’t have to come to Our approach to building brands centers require a physical observation and exam. the office, which can be very burdensome on Human Purpose; that is, creating The concept has been proved out; now and even dangerous; where experts can brands that help people thrive. Powerful the real work begins. Because we know be leveraged, not just in major cities, but health brands are as much about cheering healthcare is complex, the pull-through of anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi connection; on the human spirit as they are about telehealth post-pandemic will require an where the coming advances in remote treating the human body. An example aligned goal to transform the public health monitoring will allow for rapid emergency is one of our brands, Aimovig, which is infrastructure and collaboration across key responses in timeframes we can’t even a treatment for people who suffer from stakeholders that includes payors, health imagine now. As technology and the migraines. Migraines are incredibly institutions, and government. practices around it are refined, patient debilitating, mentally and physically. Add care will be more and more seamless and to that, migraine sufferes ave to ghtfi rh Do you feel this industry has been convenient. The industry has an incredible against societal perception that migraine pushed into being more creative? opportunity to help shape that future – headaches are not real, not a legitimate I do. In health the stakes are high. You’re and redefine and expand its value to the health condition (rather, an excuse). We dealing with lives and being risk averse system. built a brand conversation that fights back to the unintended consequences of rapid against that judgement, that is about change is reasonable. But we are well past *medical prescriptions 15 ! ARED